NVIDIA was first to market with a mobile, dual-core CPU and their Tegra 2 took the lead in our last round of performance benchmarks. Now the competition has finally caught up and we will soon have four legitimate super chips to choose from in the next six months. Which dual-core platform will be the fastest this summer? Read on after the jump for a performance preview of the Exynos, OMAP4, and Snapdragon to see how they stack up with Tegra 2.

Dual-core Android phone lineup

For this round of comparisons we will match up five different dual-core smartphones. We have two released phones based on Tegra 2 (Atrix 4G and Optimus 2X) and three upcoming phones, each with a different system-on-a-chip (SoC).

Keep in mind that the Optimus 3D, Galaxy S II, and HTC Shooter were all benchmarked on pre-production software so the final performance numbers could be enhanced.

Also note that the Atrix 4G and HTC Shooter feature qHD displays that have a higher resolution (960 x 540) so they have to push 30% more pixels.

Smartbench 2011 productivity

Smartbench 2011 is a rather new benchmark, so we have been unable to run it on the LG Optimus 3D or Samsung Galaxy S II.

Qualcomm has not allowed us to benchmark their dual-core Snapdragon, but Smartphonebenchmarks.com spotted a test result in the Smartbench 2011 database of the HTC Pyramid (Shooter).

This is one of the few benchmarks that is multi-threaded so we expected the dual-core Snapdragon to perform better. In this round of tests, the Tegra 2 phones are around 60% faster.

Smartbench 2011 Games

Once again, Smartbench 2011 is a rather new, so we have been unable to run it on the LG Optimus 3D or Samsung Galaxy S II.

For some reason it does not appear that the different resolution has a great impact on results in this test. Both the Optimus 2X and Atrix 4G feature a Tegra 2 and have similar scores (~5%), even though the Atrix has to push 30% more pixels.

GLBenchmark 2.0.3 Egypt

The HTC Shooter benchmark score was spotted on the GLBenchmark.com database. Scores for the Optimus 3D and Galaxy S II were taken from Anandtech.

In the GLBenchmark 2.0.3 Egypt test we can see the OMAP4-powered Optimus 3D take the lead. The OMAP4 uses a similar PowerVR SGX540 GPU as the Galaxy S devices, but Texas Instruments bumped up the clock speed.

The HTC Shooter and Motorola Atrix 4G both feature qHD displays, so we can see the Adreno 220 GPU outperforming the GeForce GPU in this test.

Bringing up the rear is the Samsung Galaxy S II with its ARM Mali 400 GPU. It scored lower than two devices that have higher resolutions, so we don’t know what’s going on in this test.

GLBenchmark 2.0 Pro

Scores for the Optimus 3D and Galaxy S II were taken from Anandtech. I benchmarked both of these devices at Mobile World Congress last month and found similar results. We have no score for the HTC Shooter in this test.

Once again the OMAP4 with its PowerVR SGX540 GPU takes the lead. The Atrix 4G is the only device in this test with a qHD display, so it has the lowest score as we would expect.

Conclusions

It is really hard to draw conclusions from a handful of benchmarks run on pre-production software, but we can still get an idea of how these future devices might stack up.

Samsung Exynos 4210 (Samsung Galaxy S II) – Even though we don’t have productivity benchmarks for the Exynos CPU, we expect it will be similar to Tegra 2 since both feature two of ARM’s 1 GHz Cortex-A9 cores. The scores of the ARM Mali 400 GPU were mixed, so we need to put it through some more testing when it comes out. The Galaxy S II was unveiled last month at MWC, but no US versions have been announced. Hopefully we will get some more info at this month’s CTIA and products should be in stores by late Q2 or early Q3.

Texas Instruments OMAP4430 (LG Optimus 3D) – The OMAP4 produced good results in a select few GPU benchmarks. This chip also has dual-core 1 GHz CPU using the Cortex-A9 cores, so it should offer similar productivity performance as the Tegra 2 and Exynos. The LG Optimus 3D is the only OMAP4 phone that has been announced, but Motorola’s Droid 3 is also rumored to include a chip from Texas Instruments. Look for these devices to debut in Q3.

Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8x60 (HTC Shooter) – Qualcomm’s Scorpion core is beginning to show its age. It underwent a die shrink from 65nm to 45nm and received a faster GPU, but this is the same CPU architecture that has been used since the first-generation Snapdragon. The original Scorpion core offered productivity performance similar to a Cortex-A8, but it is an entirely custom architecture designed by Qualcomm. The GPU benchmarks for the dual-core Snapdragon provided mixed results, so we need to put it through some more testing. Look for the HTC Shooter to debut on Sprint in late Q2 or early Q3.

Back in January I predicted that Tegra 2 won round 1 of the multi-core wars before these other devices were benchmarked and it looks like that might still come true. To summarize I thought Tegra 2 would become a hit since it was first to market, featured premium content, and was the reference platform for Honeycomb tablets.

NVIDIA has the most dual-core smartphones (Atrix 4G, Optimus 2X, Droid X2, Droid Bionic, and a Galaxy S II version) and so they should move the most units shipped this year. That means game developers are likely to target and optimize for the platform that has the largest user base.

I never focussed on performance because I figured most of the dual-core chips would have benchmark scores that were comparable. We can now see that the OMAP4 might end up with the fastest GPU, but we will have to wait and see how many game developers optimize their content for Texas Instrument’s chip. When it comes to productivity performance all of the devices with Cortex-A9 cores should offer similar, leading performance while the Snapdragon and its Scorpion core might lag behind.

AT&T is the only carrier with a dual-core Tegra 2 phone (their Atrix 4G), but we expect every carrier should have something to offer by Q2. T-Mobile will receive the LG G2x, Verizon will get the Motorola Droid Bionic, and Sprint has a few Tegra 2 surprises also in the works.

In closing, 2011 is the year of the dual-core CPU. We have already covered the numerous benefits of multi-core over single-core, so I suggest waiting for a dual-core phone on your carrier if you plan to upgrade in the next three months. If you already upgraded this last year and want to wait a little longer, we should have the first quad-core phone by Christmas with several more to follow in early 2012.

Which dual-core chip would you like to see in your next Android phone?

Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He resides in Dallas and carries the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and HTC One as his daily devices. Ask him a question on Twitter or Google+ and he is likely to respond. | Ethics statement

You have no idea what you are talking about. The ARM Mali isn’t as optimised on this benchmarks and can’t be properly tested. The Exynos chip beats the crap out of Tegra 2 and any other atm. It can push games at 60+ FPS in stereoscopic 3D at 1080p. No chip available atm can do that except non yet released quad core Kal-el from nVidia.

same thoughts here, why in the world would they leave the gpu that made them so known? the rumor is that the mali400 is from the same makers of the sgx540 aka powerVR. but regardless i hope they know what theyre doing, this mali400 is supposed to be multi cored * i believe its dual or quad* well all in all as long as it kicks ass im happy. i just bought the evo3G & sprint give’s you a whole month of testing & if you dont like you can exchange or get all your money back & dont have to pay the month that you’ve used + since i sighned up before the 25th of june they added 300 extra minutes to my 450 landline minutes for a totoal of 750! yeah boy :) sprint is it, they hook you up & they let you test for a whole month at there expense…imagine at&t or verizon doing that? well anyway im already falling in love with the evo3D so the galaxy2 better be a hell of a phone if im going to switch for samsung.

I am happy with my upcoming Htc Evo2/3d with MSM 8660 Dualcore processor adreno 220 and my 2.3.3ginerbread great start for a FLAGSHIP DEVICE FOR 2011 just like 2010 Evo 4g rules android and we’ll do the today.

I am happy with my upcoming Htc Evo2/3d with MSM 8660 Dualcore processor adreno 220 and my 2.3.3ginerbread great start for a FLAGSHIP DEVICE FOR 2011 just like 2010 Evo 4g rules android and we’ll do the today..

I am happy with my upcoming Htc Evo2/3d with MSM 8660 Dualcore processor adreno 220 and my 2.3.3ginerbread great start for a FLAGSHIP DEVICE FOR 2011 just like 2010 Evo 4g rules android and we’ll do the today…..

I am happy with my upcoming Htc Evo2/3d with MSM 8660 Dualcore processor adreno 220 and my 2.3.3ginerbread great start for a FLAGSHIP DEVICE FOR 2011 just like 2010 Evo 4g rules android and we’ll do the today……

I am happy with my upcoming Htc Evo2/3d with MSM 8660 Dualcore processor adreno 220 and my 2.3.3ginerbread great start for a FLAGSHIP DEVICE FOR 2011 just like 2010 Evo 4g rules android and we’ll do the today…….

This device the new Htc Evo2/3d is the ONLY DEVICE THAT WILL LAUNCH WITH 2.3.3GINERBREAD. All the other devices at CES, AND MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS will launch with 2.2 froyo with as usual a promises to upgrade whenever. Atrix 4g, Motorola Bionic 4g, Samsung Stealth, Samsung Ispire 4g, Lg Optimus 2X and Lg Optimus 3D and Lg Revolution, Varios other devices will run froyo

This device the new Htc Evo2/3d is the ONLY DEVICE THAT WILL LAUNCH WITH 2.3.3GINERBREAD. All the other devices at CES, AND MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS will launch with 2.2 froyo with as usual a promises to upgrade whenever. Atrix 4g, Motorola Bionic 4g, Samsung Stealth, Samsung Ispire 4g, Lg Optimus 2X and Lg Optimus 3D and Lg Revolution, Varios other devices will run froyo.

This device the new Htc Evo2/3d is the ONLY DEVICE THAT WILL LAUNCH WITH 2.3.3GINERBREAD. All the other devices at CES, AND MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS will launch with 2.2 froyo with as usual a promises to upgrade whenever. Atrix 4g, Motorola Bionic 4g, Samsung Stealth, Samsung Ispire 4g, Lg Optimus 2X and Lg Optimus 3D and Lg Revolution, Varios other devices will run froyo…

This device the new Htc Evo2/3d is the ONLY DEVICE THAT WILL LAUNCH WITH 2.3.3GINERBREAD. All the other devices at CES, AND MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS will launch with 2.2 froyo with as usual a promises to upgrade whenever. Atrix 4g, Motorola Bionic 4g, Samsung Stealth, Samsung Ispire 4g, Lg Optimus 2X and Lg Optimus 3D and Lg Revolution, Varios other devices will run froyo…..

This device the new Htc Evo2/3d is the ONLY DEVICE THAT WILL LAUNCH WITH 2.3.3GINERBREAD. All the other devices at CES, AND MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS will launch with 2.2 froyo with as usual a promises to upgrade whenever. Atrix 4g, Motorola Bionic 4g, Samsung Stealth, Samsung Ispire 4g, Lg Optimus 2X and Lg Optimus 3D and Lg Revolution, Varios other devices will run froyo…….

You are using supposed leaked BM charts for Snapdragon device that is still under development? The handset is not even final. Your zeal for Nvidia is starting to cloud your articles. I don’t mean to be too hard on you..I really enjoy your site but, when accurate BM’s come out for the finalized/ optimized Snapdragon chip device will you run an comparison article then?

Here’s the thing. I don’t like apple, I like Google and android. But I have to point out, there is something missing here, and the android phone manufacturers need to really step up their game. The dual core chip in the ipad2 uses an SGX543. Word is that same GPU is coming to the next iphone, which will be out about the time most of these phones will (Q2-Q3). Well, the SGX543 beats the tegra chip pretty badly. Right now it’s clear that power VR is the best mobile graphics chip – we saw it with the droid, the galaxy, and now with the A5. Clearly the SGX chips are the way to go for future GPUs in phones. Which processor you choose for dual core is almost immaterial – they’re all ARM, and not even as different from one another as intel and AMD in the x86 side.

I’m sorry but this article is just way too slanted. One phone is out. Nvidia hasn’t won anything, and if their performance really is this bad, then apple will win, sadly. And if android phone makers keep carrying on like this, they’re going to be stuck behind apple for the forseeable future. That really sucks. Sorry for the negative post.

PowerVR is not as good as you think. The problem is Tegra 2 is really an old chip, that only now comes to market in more popular products. Tegra 2 first shipped in products in September 2010 in the Toshiba smartbook, so it was ready *then* for tablets. Tegra 2 is already 6 months old, so it’s unfair to say “look Tegra doesn’t stand a chance against PowerVR”.

PowerVR MP2 is abut 75% better than Tegra 2 in FPS for the same number of pixels. Tegra 3 will be available 6 months from now, and also be about 75% faster than the MP2 for the same number of pixels (being 3x faster than Tegra 2). Plus, Tegra 3 will be twice as fast CPU wise.

So what I’m saying is that it happens that the new PowerVR GPU is released at half of the old Tegra chip’s life cycle. If they would be released in the time they’d probably be about as fast GPU wise, but since they’re not that means that one is released today and is significantly faster than the other, then the other one has a new version 6 months later and is significantly faster than the first one, and then a year from now the first one is releasing a new version and is significantly faster than the new version of ther 2nd one – and so on.

do you really think that powervr is standing still the first soc with POWERVR Series6 Rogue
will be out next year has the grafix performances more than 20 times arm mali-400
it will kill the tegra 3 in performance
read this http://www.beyond3d.com/content/articles/112/1

You seem to use the Shooter/Pyramid interchangeably. Are you implying that the HTC Shooter and Pyramid are the same phone, or 2 different phones sharing the same architecture? I thought the Shooter was going to Sprint and the Pyramid was going to TMO.

Pyramid was just a codename for the HTC design using the MSM8x60 platform. T-Mobile used the Pyramid name in some of their roadmap slides and it appears Sprint is calling their version of it the Shooter.

latest rumors pin the shooter to be the Evo3D. We should find out next week at CTIA since sprint has said they’re going to announce at least 2 phones during the show.

The pyramid, for tmobile is possibly going to be a new nexus device. People pointed out that in the renders it said, google instead of with google, and the soft buttons used the nexus icon style and not the HTC style. It will also most likely become a variant of the desire as well.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt the optimus 3d the first phone with dual channel memory? Not sure how big of a difference that would make but LG are making a fuss about it! Could that be why its performs so well? Even with its 3d screen!

Taylor, Even though there isn’t a finalized version of the snapdragon dual-core, do you think scores will be much improved on the retail version of the shooter/pyramid or will there not be much improvement? Also, do you think it would be wiser to go with the shooter/scorpion that’s based on A8 architecture or would it be more “future-proof”(at least for the next 6 months) to go with an A9 based processor?

zed, the phone was just announced only yesterday. For crying out loud. I will bet that next week we will see real optimized numbers from Qualcomm that will surpass the competition. Either way, as a happy EVO owner I have’nt really chosen any sides. I like HTC’s handset designs along with their overlay (which is the most intuitive imo). I like Samsung’s screens and battery usage. I like Motorola’s Xoom.
In short, we are all the winners in this fight. The consumers.

The Pyramid has a dual core processor. It’s the same one he mentions the 1.2Ghz dual core snapdragon. The reason why the scores are so similar is because android does not natively support dual cores. The other phones tested run custom versions of android with the dual core function built in.

Since the shooter/pyramid is still in pre-release it’s very likely that they’re version of gingerbread, especially if it’s stock 2.3.2, has no dual core support so the other core is just sitting there doing nothing

Alright well it’s dissapointing to see the pyramid/shooter get low scores, but still twice that of a nexus one with gingerbread so i’m happy.

Also there is a chance as i said to someone else that they could be using stock gingerbread, or a unfinalized version of sense with no dual core support built in yet. Keep in mind that stock 2.3.2 has no dual core support, and it’s possible that because of that the benchmarks may have been lower.

Regardless, i still don’t trust samsung enough to buy a galaxy s2, not to mention the thing is almost too big for a phone.

The LG G2x is nice, but really hate the design.

So for me, even if these are the final benchmarks. still twice as good as my nexus, and i can always have a tegra in my tablet.

I would be very very surprised if the qualcomm chip didn’t end up being the best in final products. The increased clock speeds makes up for the lack of a new architecture and the gpu has been publicly stated to be “several times faster” than what I can only assume is the adreno 205.

The adreno 205 chips did fairly well against the hummingbird chips last year so its pretty reasonable to think the new chip should be superior to omap 4.

Sorry, but your assumption is wrong. They were referring to the Adreno 200. And even for the Adreno 300 they mention that it’s 15x better than Adreno 200 (might sound impressive but Adreno 200 really sucks). People did the very same mistake with Orion/Exynos, thinking Samsung said it’s 5x better than PowerVR SGX540, when in fact Samsung was referring to Adreno 200 as well.

Plus, every one of them seem to inflate these numbers. Samsung said PowerVR SGX540 it’s 3x better than Adreno 200, and it was just 2x. Apple said MP2 is 9x better than SGX535, when it’s more like 4x, and so on. I think Nvidia also said Tegra 2 is 5x better than Adreno 200, when in fact it was just 3x better. (I do believe Tegra 3 is 3x faster than Tegra 2 though, because Ive seen the FPS demos in real games).

But really out of them all, the least I’d trust is Qualcomm, they’ve made statements like this ever since Adreno 200, and they’ve always been far from the truth. I wish HTC would follow Motorola and Samsung’s lead and start using Tegra chips as well. Both Motorola an Samsung use 2 sets of chips, while HTC uses only Qualcomm and it’s making them fall behind. Even if it turns out the dual core Snapdragon is a bit better than Tegra 2, it will only be true for 2-3 months, when Tegra 3 will be out and leave it in the dust. All I’m asking is for them to wage their bets and keep making the best smartphones for their customers, even if it means not using Qualcomm chips. Their relationships with Qualcomm is starting to hurt their brand as the company that makes the best Android smartphones.

Do you sweat and bleed nvidia green? keep typing paragraphs about your fun little world of team green. Dude tegra 3 is going to be better JUST YOU WAIT. ITS NOT FAIR, ITS COMING I SWEAR. jesus android doesn’t even have many good games on it yet

Stupid Appleseed…
You don’t even know what the final specs are for iPhone 5. When it comes out and your processor doesn’t match up, you’ll be on here saying “iPhone 6 is gonna destroy you!” Then “iPhone 7 is gonna be the best!” and on and on…don’t you tire of the mindlessness?

It’s to early to actually say how they all stack up together. Anything said was on an early show. None of these devices are out and finalized. Plus some stuff doesn’t play nice with others or isn’t compatible. I think real life performance and a test optimized for them all equally will show. Plus any dual core will be awesome. I’m already excited about quad but dual is more then enough. What do you actually expect or going to do on your phone. it’s going to be a lot of choices. Get the device that best fits your daily use and be satisfied hopefully. Just know it’ll always be something a little better and next year it’ll be a successor. Cause when a next gen or refresh comes out, ask yourself is it really that much better then the device you have? Any device that comes out or announced during CTIA and years end will be something to hold on to for a while.

Yeah, Tegra 2 was out in fall and Tegra 2 3D was supposed ot be out in spring, but since most popular Tegra 2 products are only showing up now, they canceled Tegra 2 3D, because it will only be a few more months until Tegra 3 as well.

This is why I wish people wouldn’t just jump to conclusions saying oh look Tegra 2 is already beaten by TI OMAP 4 or Apple’s A5, because it’s really pretty unfair, since Tegra 2 is already 6 months old, and in 6 more months Tegra 3 will be out.

What should’ve happend is all these tablets Xoom, LG Slate, were supposed to arrive early fall and phones like Atrix should’ve arrived before Christmas, but for some reason they were all delayed by months (I’m guessing Google’s fault, especially for tablets).

But imagine seeing Tegra 2 products since September, and only now in April or May seeing similar performance TI OMAP 4 and dual core Snapdragons in products. People would totally dismiss them because they are so late to the party, and they are late to the party, it’s just less noticeable now that Tegra 2 is coming in popular products only now, too.

But keep in mind that Nvidia’s product cycle is at least 6 month ahead of everyone else. That’s why Tegra 3 with 2x CPU performance and 3x GPU performance (of Tegra 2) is coming in August this year (about a year after Tegra 2 first appeared). Competitors won’t have similar performance products until at least end of 2011 or early 2012.

And even if competitors catch up with Tegra 3 then, I think Nvidia will stick to their original plan of “upgrading”(not replacing) their Tegra chips 6 months after the introduction (like Tegra 2 3D was to Tegra 2). This means Nvidia will finally keep a sustainable lead at all points in time.

OMG, another iDrone… go sit on the couch and start jacking off to a picture of Steve Jobs! The site is called androidandme.com, and if you don’t care for Android or like iOS better then why post here?

On with the real comment:P

Out of all 5 devices I prefer the Pyramid (or Shooter, or Evo 3D). Even though the benchmarks aren’t that impressive I really like HTC’s design for the Pyramid, and imho Sense is still the best UI for Android.